Christmas Special 2016
Christmas Special 2016 is the fifth Christmas special and the 43rd episode overall of Call the Midwife. It originally aired on 25 December 2016 in the UK. Overview Coming soon... Plot Mother Jesu Emmanuel rings Nonnatus House to inform Sister Julienne that Mother Felicity, who helped run Hope Clinic, a tiny mission hospital in Apartheid-era South Africa, has passed away and the clinic is threatened with closure due to lack of staff. She requests a small working party go to South Africa to save the clinic and run an urgent polio vaccination program. The party consists of Sisters Julienne and Sister Winifred, Nurses Beatrix Franklin, Barbara Gilbert, and Phyllis Crane, Tom Hereward and Frederick Buckle, and are also joined by Patrick and Shelagh Turner. Hope Clinic is run by one doctor, Dr. Myra Fitzsimmons, or Dr. Myra as the locals call her, and a handful of nuns. One day, Tom is alarmed to learn that the clinic's water supply is full of clay and unhygienic, and the clinics patients need clean water, but a local landowner is unwilling to allow a pipeline across his land due to a longstanding grudge against Dr. Myra and the clinic. Things take a very serious turn when Dr. Myra suddenly becomes seriously ill, and with the clinic's water supply running dangerously low, the team from Nonnatus House find themselves in a race against time to save the clinic. Dr. Myra convinces herself she has liver cancer and won't allow Patrick to examine her. Patrick believes Dr. Myra's self-diagnosis is wrong, but she won't let him near her. Shelagh is able to persuade her into the examination, and Patrick determines she has an abscess and drains it. However Dr. Myra's health continues to deteriorate. Dr. Myra also tells Sister Julienne the reason the landowner Mr. Starke won't allow a pipeline across his land: Mr. Starke blames Dr. Myra and her black patients for the death of his wife and child, believing they caught the diseases that killed them from Dr. Myra's patients. Sister Julienne goes to speak to Mr. Starke and tells him that unless he stops blaming Dr. Myra for what happened and will give permission for a pipeline across his land, more mothers and babies will die. Starke later comes to speak to Sister Julienne while she's tending to a newborn baby; he relents and a new spring is installed, giving the clinic clean water. Characters Midwives Beatrix Franklin Barbara Gilbert Phyllis Crane Nuns Soeur Winifred Sister Julienne Patients Coming soon... Other Fred Buckle Shelagh Turner Patrick Turner Songs featured * The Loco-Motion by Little Eva * Dedicated to the One I Love by The Shirelles * Rubber Ball by Bobby Vee * Pata Pata by Miriam Makeba Trivia * When Dr. Myra is telling Sister Julienne the reason for Mr. Starke's vendetta against Hope Clinic, she says she delivered Starke's wife of a baby boy. When he's talking to Sister Julienne near the end of the episode, he says the baby was a girl. * Phyllis is revealed to be afraid of spiders. * Miranda Hart was supposed to return as Chummy for this episode, but didn't. In February 2017, Hart revealed she'd been forced to pull out due to illness. * This is the last episode to feature the original black and white intro. From the next episode onwards the series has a new version of the intro in colour. Quotes Shelagh: Its at times like this I say to myself "What would Sister Evangelina do?". '''Sister Winifred:' Well, first of all she'd mention the war, and then she'd remind us we're here for our patients. - Shelagh and Sister Winifred discussing the Hope Clinics humble facilities. Barbara: Honestly, Trixie, I promise you nobody will know you haven't been able to set your hair. That hat covers a multitude of sins. Trixie: (grumbling) It's the first time I've ever wished I had a wimple. Barbara: (laughs) '' - Barbara to Trixie after Trixie complains about her messy hairdo. '''Trixie:' Don't you see why this has happened? It's because she's been forced into a wretched, filthy, narrow life where her only worth comes from what she can grow in her womb. She wanted that baby so badly that her body started lying to her, and she believed it. Barbara: T''he baby may be imaginary, but her pains are real'' - Trixie and Barbara discussing Roza, a patient who has had a phantom pregnancy. Gallery Christmas Special 2016 1.png Christmas Special 2016 2.png Christmas Special 2016 4.png Christmas Special 2016 5.png References Coming soon... Category:Episodes Category:Christmas specials